Three pairs of hands
Three movers, and why it isn't about the load
The most misunderstood crew we run. People assume a third person means a bigger move. Far more often it means a lift that has to be held, a vehicle that cannot be left, or a legal standing point two streets from your door.
On a long carry, three people are frequently quicker than two by more than half. Carrying is the whole job and carriers work in parallel.
What comes with three movers
The three reasons a third person exists
One: somebody has to stay with the vehicle. On a red route, a clearway or any frontage enforced by camera, a van cannot be left, and the person staying with it is not carrying.
Two: somebody has to work the lift. A single passenger lift shared with residents cannot be held, so everything is staged and moved in bursts, with a person permanently at each end of it.
Three: the carry itself is long. Where the nearest legal standing point is not your address, distance multiplies every trip, and more carriers is the only lever that exists.
What three people cover
Two-bedroom flats and upwards. Any walk-up above the second floor. Anything with an American fridge-freezer that has to change level. Central London jobs of almost any size, because of the standing problem rather than the load.
Also: partial house moves where one property is emptying into storage and another is filling from it on the same day.
Over the bannister
Occasionally a sofa or a mattress genuinely will not go round a turn, and the only route is over the bannister into the stairwell. That is a three-person manoeuvre: two above taking the weight and one below controlling the swing.
We will tell you in advance if we think this is coming, because it decides both the crew and whether the item survives. Some do not, and that is a conversation worth having before the day rather than during it.
What it is not
It is not an upgrade tier and we do not present it as one. Where a job is a two-person job we quote two, and where the access is good we say so plainly even when a third would be pleasant to have.
If you think we have over-specified a crew, ask, and we will tell you which of the three reasons above applies. If none of them does, we have made a mistake and we will fix it.
Three movers
Questions about three movers
- 1My flat is small. Why are you quoting three?
- Almost certainly access. Ask which of the three reasons applies — a vehicle that cannot be left, a lift that cannot be held, or a long carry — and if none of them does, we will change it.
- 2Do three people mean three times the carrying?
- On a long carry, close to it, because trips happen in parallel. On a short door-to-door job with a good lift, much less, which is why we do not quote three for those.
- 3Can I supply the third person myself?
- No. Our cover extends to our crew, and a stairwell with a wardrobe coming down it is not the place to discover the limits of that.
- 4Is three enough for a three-bed house?
- Sometimes, with good access and no loft to clear. More often a house is a full crew with two vehicles, and we will say which after looking at the list.
Tell us the stairs, not the boxes
Both addresses, what floor each one is on, where a vehicle can legally stand at either end, and the widest thing you own. That is what sets the crew — and the crew is what sets the price.